KitGuru KitGuru.net – Tech News | Hardware News | Hardware Reviews | IOS | Mobile | Gaming | Graphics Cards
Today we test with the latest AMD Catalyst 14.4 Beta driver and the Nvidia Forceware 335.23 driver.
We are using one of our brand new test rigs supplied by PCSPECIALIST and built to our specifications. If you want to read more about this, or are interested in buying the same Kitguru Test Rig, check out our article with links on this page.
We are featuring results today with an Apple 30 inch Cinema HD Display at 2560×1600 resolution and an Asus PQ321QE Ultra HD 4K screen running at 4K 3840 x 2160 resolution.
Room ambient was held at 23c throughout testing.
Comparison Graphics cards:
Nvidia GTX Titan Black x2 (890 mhz core / 1,750 mhz memory)
Gigabyte GTX780 Ti Windforce OC (1020mhz core / 1750 mhz memory)
Palit GTX 780 Ti Jetstream OC (980 mhz core / 1,750 mhz memory)
Sapphire R9 290X Tri-X (1010mhz / 1250 mhz memory)
Software:
Windows 7 Enterprise 64 bit
Unigine Heaven Benchmark
Unigine Valley Benchmark
3DMark Vantage
3DMark 11
3DMark
Fraps Professional
Steam Client
FurMark
Games:
Thief 2014
Total War: Rome 2
Tomb Raider
Metro: Last Light
GRID 2
Battlefield 4
All the latest BIOS updates and drivers are used during testing. We perform generally under real world conditions, meaning KitGuru tests games across five closely matched runs and then average out the results to get an accurate median figure. If we use scripted benchmarks, they are mentioned on the relevant page.
Some game descriptions edited with courtesy from Wikipedia.
best review of the hardware online today ! what an awesome board, and great price from AMD too!
that is a beast – im impressed with that even though I do prefer Nvidias drivers. It actually shows how much overpriced the titan Z will be.
That said, nvidia wouldn’t have to watercool their card, and they aren’t. I just hope its not too loud.
I love the looks!, can you add your own fans to the card or is the AMD fan specifically designed for the right RPM profile?
Bleh, Nvidia Z Titan will be better than this – its too much heat for a GPU, the case will get warm inside.
Well colour me impressed with this – its a monster card, wouldn’t fit in my case! Its cool to see companies doing stuff like this, even if we can’t afford it. I know I can’t afford it
Its not that expensive. two 290xs are around £900, and this has a better cooler and its water.
AMD need a pat on the back for this one.
£1000 is a bargain for this. I want one.
Im ordering one too when its out, I have a new 1000W PSU and am selling my 780. Just got a new Dell 4k screen. I am not paying over £2,000 for a Titan Z.
thats a lot of testing zardon, have you slept much in the last week ? i guess not.
Its a good card and you show it in a good light. Its basically two overclocked R9 290Xs with a watercooler, for the same price as two crappy reference boards. Hard to fault it.
AMD are hard to beat on price, Nvidia must be kicking themselves.
wow what a lot of AMD fanboys here getting their panties in a twist.
You do know that Nvidia could easily sell the titan Z with the cores at 1.05ghz right? over the reference 890mhz of the standard titan black. that would beat this based on the results i see.
Its a good price, the power demands are high, not exactly a single GPU everyone should just rush out and buy.
Good price, ill agree with everyone, but I think it needs a 240mm radiator. my mate is buying one, but will strip it down and add his own watercooling. so he says.
how much in america? $1500 ?
I think most guys will remove the cooler and use their own watercooling. I think its a pretty stupid idea to use a single 120mm watercooler. a 4770k runs much cooler with a dual radiator and thats probably not putting out as much heat as one 290X core, nevermind 2.
120mm radiator? is this a joke? what a way to f*ck up a good card. might still buy one and cool it properly! surprised ASETEK gave that the OK.
Not available anywhere, another paper launch from AMD. way to go.
I had wondered why the nvidia side was so low compared to other review sites. Your OC settings are terrible low, and your drivers are not up to date for both cards. If you are going to use beta drivers for one side, you should probably stick to the most recent beta drivers for the other side as well (i realize you may have done much of your testing before they came out, as they only came out yesterday for nvidia).
I would like to see some benchmark videos on this card, as i really am having troubles imagining a dual card performing better than two single cards. I’ve noticed this kind of pattern in previous reviews on this site and on anandtech, and guess i will just have to wait until more reviewers have their numbers out. Gratz on being one of the first though. Im willing to bet that sli 780 properly overclocked will hold up to this, but obviously that is yet to be tested.
@ BRANTYN GERIK. Why would they overclock the GTX Titan cards as a ‘standardised’ SLI test? they were SLi’d as they are sold at 890mhz (889mhz). The R9 295X2 wasn’t tested overclocked either throughout the review. Both solutions tested as sold.
The latest Nvidia drivers were released yesterday afternoon. I would imagine this review was started a week ago. they only change results by 2-5% in most instances anyway. (I have a GTX780 Ti).
I have the new nvidia drivers, they help my Titan performance in some games by around 5%, so I would imagine the performance after using this driver would be very close. I wouldn’t expect this review to use them though, Nvidia only released them yesterday and I would guess this review took about a week.
I prefer Nvidia and wouldn’t own this R9 295X2, but I think its a good idea to point out that AMD are likely to improve performance soon too, as this is the first driver for the card.
I am no fan boy, best card for the price, gets my money.
Titan Z has a lot to do now to justify that $3,000.
It just goes to show how much heat those AMD cards are putting out.
Nvidia Z? single fan in the middle. AMD? 120mm radiator, water, two pumps, fan also in the middle, still gets too hot.
240mm radiator needed. they dropped the ball.
I think this is a briliant card for the money, better than Nvidia’s,. ASUS ARES,MARS etc and watercooled.
Great looking card too and well priced. I just wish they had went for a larger raidator, my case can take two 240mms 🙁 Have you tried changing the fan and adding two quiet fans like the sharkoon dead silence zardon?
So many stupid people. Titan Z is NOT a gaming card! Its not meant to be for this audience. who the hell would spend $3,000 to play games?
@Slashwat. What are you talking about? of course people will buy the Titan Z for gaming. I own a Titan and I know the 780Ti is cheaper and just as good or even faster depending on the cooler you get.
TONS of people are buying Titans to game, probably more than those buying it to develop CUDA on. The Titan Z will be bought by very rich gamers and probably in pairs too. Nvidia know this, but get around the price with the whole double precision thing.
People who say Titan cards are not sold for gaming are so niave and reading the nvidia playbook. people want more than 3GB of memory and the status associated by using the best. Whether you like it, or even if it makes sense, doesnt matter – its true.
I think it’s time for AMD to evolve their GPU with customizable cooler. This will unlock better option in performance cooling & OC headroom